


the swap

by Skyepilot



Category: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe, F/M, First Kiss, Friends to Lovers, Gravitonium, Older Man/Younger Woman, Plot Twists, Role Reversal, Sharing a Body, Skye | Daisy Johnson's Superpowers, Speculation, The Framework, daisy's mom
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-01-25
Updated: 2018-01-25
Packaged: 2019-03-09 11:33:35
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,358
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13480632
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Skyepilot/pseuds/Skyepilot
Summary: Set in S5, AU that was based on a random plot bunny I had.  Daisy and Coulson use the Framework to switch bodies.





	the swap

It turns out to be a nice little trick, they don't even realize until it's too late.

That Coulson is not really Coulson at all.

Who would have thought that Franklin Hall would still be inside the Gravitonium, much less hold a grudge all of those years?

That he wanted to sell out humanity to the Kree in exchange for freedom?

The key to it was the Framework, and after some modifications had been made, they had agreed to switch.

Daisy's consciousness in Coulson's body, his in hers.

"It's weird watching you do that," he says, as Coulson's hand extends and nothing happens.

"It's weird hearing me tell me it's weird," she answers, turning towards her body, watching Coulson extend her hand and how his eyes widen when a wave is released.

"That's so cool," he says, then frowns. "But, I feel like there's a million bees buzzing under my skin. Is it like this all the time?"

"You should get used to that," she says, looking down at the prosthetic and punching up the modifications that she made to it not long ago.

That's when the idea had first come to her while she was working on his hand.

How Coulson wanted Quake there, but she wrestled with going back to the past. The fact that her just being present seemed to be so deeply connected to the destruction of the Earth.

"What if I wasn't me?" she told him, while she worked on rewiring his prosthetic.

He had paused and looked up at her over his shoulder from his seat at the worktable. "Come again?"

"The Framework," she explained. "We were uploaded into it, then back into our own bodies. But what if it wasn't me in my body?"

"Are you asking me to-"

She can already see the smirk starting to form on his face, as she interrupts. "I'm just saying I would trust you. With that."

"I've never been a superhero before," he tells her, blinking as he thinks it over.

"I'm not a superhero, Coulson," she sighs and connects the cables to the prosthetic as he watches her hands work.

"What makes you think I could handle all of that power any better than you?"

"I'll show you, and we can use the gloves. Once I get this inhibitor off me," she tells him, brushing her fingers against the device near the base of her skull.

"If we can get that off of you safely," he remarks, then stares at her quietly for a moment, while she taps across the keyboard.

"Like you said, we need Quake."

  
###

  
What they couldn't explain is how disorienting it is to be in another person's body.

Obviously they're monitored at first, there are people all around and so that's a distraction.

It's when she's alone at night, staring into the mirror as she washes her face, and sees Coulson looking back at her.

The stiffness in the knees, that must be an age thing, right? Because Simmons said she was, "Fit as a fiddle," with an uncomfortable laugh, like it was supposed to mean something to her.

She makes a few faces that she thinks Coulson would never make, and laughs for a moment, wishing she had a phone so she could use the camera.

They already had a talk about basic body functions and she hasn't had to pee yet, but, she will at some point. He told her that he'd be very careful and respectful but it wasn't really necessary, she already knew that.

It's just one of those nice things that Coulson does because it really means something when he says it out loud.

The best part, if there is such a thing, is the familiarity of it all. Like that time they sparred in the Framework, she could smell sweat and when she lifts the t-shirt he's been wearing for days and smells it, it has the same smell. A bit funkier.

Probably should be grossed out by it, but, it's Coulson.

There's a knock on the outside of the bunk and she walks to the door and slides it open to see herself, but with a pensive expression she knows that's his.

"What is it?" she asks, stepping aside so that he can come in and close the door behind him.

"I'm having a hard time sleeping, because of the... I'm sorry to bother you."

She puts a comforting hand on his shoulder, and then leads him over to sit on the edge of the bunk.

"May taught me how to meditate. It really helped with that at first."

He nods, eyes staring into hers, like he's looking for something. "I never realized how much this was. I mean, I realized, just, when you can feel it all the time-"

"Luckily, I had some help. The stuff with my mom, especially," she tells him with a soft smile, looking down at the floor for a moment.

"That smile. It's my face, but it's yours." That makes her smile even more, meeting his eyes. "How does it feel to have a lot less hair?"

That makes her actually laugh, and she reaches back and touches the nape of her neck. "I don't know, it's easier?"

"I mean, I can't complain about being smoking hot and having superpowers, but you-"

"Smoking hot?" she chokes out, raising an eyebrow.

"I don't do that, either," he says, wrong-footed for a moment, she notices the tinge of pink he's wearing on her cheeks. "Just the one eyebrow...thing."

She watches him fiddle with his hands, then breaks the silence. "Now, sit up straight, feet on the floor."

It's weird hearing Coulson's voice sound so bossy, but he doesn't seem to mind.

  
###

  
She knew she would be careful, but the idea that she could hurt people again, that she doesn't want to believe she's the rotten center of everything.

How can she say that it feels inescapable without making them afraid?

Coulson is very patient, which doesn't surprise her, but they're running out of time.

She remembers the lessons her mother told her, on the mountain. How to listen to the mountain, then talk back.

It's so gratifying watching the expression he's wearing when he makes the rocks on the surface tremble and topple in a mini-landslide.

How he turns to her and stares at her with what she can only describe as joy, and she's never quite seen that expression on her own face.

It makes her feel so proud, of what they've accomplished together, of how it makes her feel. They've both come so far, and there's something more. Harder to describe.

They hear the perimeter alarm, warning them the Vrellnexians are nearby, and she takes his hand, looking around the landscape protectively, as he leads them back inside the pod.

After they give the notice, it launches back up towards the ship to rendezvous with the team.

They're almost ready, she thinks, as they're walking back towards their quarters, and she watches the way he moves in her body, the little bit of swagger that he sometimes has.

The tilt of his head, the way he seems so comfortable moving in her body. That her hair is in a neat braid.

"You know I'm getting that back," she tells him, as he opens the door to his bunk, and she doesn't come in just leans in the doorway.

He swings around and looks at her with a smirk on his face, props his forearm against the door. "Don't worry, I've got your back. Literally."

She rolls her eyes at his corny joke. "You need to eat, every time you use your powers, okay?"

"That's right," he remembers, with a yawn. "Do you want to come with me? I could use your help."

They're used to people eyeing them strangely now, the people who aren't on the team mostly avoid them.

At least there's real food at their disposal now that the Kree no longer have control of the Lighthouse.

She makes him a salad with the vegetables and watches him sip on a protein shake while she chops.

Then she remembers a thing about him, his sleeves and she pushes up the long sleeved shirt past his forearms, feeling the hairs there, remembering when she had touched his arm with her own fingers in the past, and it's so surreal.

When she looks up, she sees him watching her, with that intense expression Coulson sometimes has.

"I didn't want to get your sleeves dirty," she tells him, and continues chopping tomatoes. "Tomorrow we should see how your powers work with Flint's."

"You mean, your powers," he reminds her.

She frowns thinking she's almost forgotten what the buzzing feels like.

  
###

  
They'll be making the switch back in a few hours, and it's strange to be back on the Earth, whole, in this other base.

Flint back in the future, in that other reality, with the time loop fixed, and they didn't have to say goodbye after all.

Robin, too.

It always feels like a miracle, that they've made it again. That they've managed to escape Fate once more.

She pulls off the shirt and sees the scar across his chest, and touches it.

If not for this scar, she would probably have never met him, and she's only been inside him for a few days, but it feels like so much longer.

Almost like an extension of how she feels when she's with him in her own body.

She puts on clean clothes that he gave her, so he wakes up dressed like himself again, and heads towards Zephyr.

He was able to talk to the Gravitonium, to give Hall a chance to make it right, then in the end the man erased himself, when he realized what he had done.

That without her being there, in Coulson's body, Hall would never have taken the bait. And Coulson needed her, to anchor him.

When she wakes up, they will be her powers again.

And he will be there by her side.

"Hey, you."

Her eyes flutter open and she turns towards the sound of his voice, and sees him smiling back at her.

The buzzing is so intense, she had forgotten about it, it takes a moment for her to wrestle control of it, squeezing her eyes shut.

"You alright?"

She feels his fingers on hers, rubbing his thumb across her hand gently, trying to give her at point of reference to focus on.

Her breathing slows down and she opens her eyes again and smiles at him.

It's quiet now, just the two of them.

And then the sounds of the lab come rushing in, their vital signs being checked, and she sees him in flashes through the movement of other people's bodies.

His eyes always manage to find hers, like an anchor.

Or maybe she is his.

  
###

  
"I'm at least 40% less hot now," he tells her through a mouthful of ice cream.

"Only 40%?" she asks him, dipping her spoon into his bowl. "I'm outraged."

"Well, the experience upped my hotness factor," he mugs. "Before that, I would've said 60%."

"You are really good at braids," she tells him, sucking on the spoon for a moment as he relaxes back into the chair and sighs.

"I can't eat all of this," he tells her. "I don't have your metabolism anymore, but I want to eat all the time!"

"Welcome to my world," she tells him, sliding the bowl of ice cream in front of her. "I bet you don't miss the other stuff."

"Some of it, no. But I think about it," he says, moving forward again and hesitating for a moment, then brushing back her hair where he can see the small scar where the inhibitor used to be. "All the time."

She puts the spoon into the bowl and pushes it away, then turns her shoulders towards him. "I feel so connected to you. I mean, I did before, but it's-"

"Different now," he agrees, and tilts his head as he looks at her face, and her shoulders and arms before resting his hand on hers.

"Not that I would want to do that again, once was enough," she says, trying to hide her smile. "I still need you. How do I explain what this means?"

"It's complicated," he answers. "All the pieces coming together, and, I think I understand now."

"And all your freckles and your hands, and your scar, and, I know it. All of it. Like a map, how everything is arranged," she tells him, standing up.

"Then you have me at a disadvantage," he tells her with a smirk.

"It's really not fair. It's just how my mind works."

She feels herself starting to blush, and she takes the bowl and moves it to the sink, rinsing it out, moving to move.

"Daisy-"

He's standing behind her, she can feel it, and he's so close, but it's not enough.

"Tell me what to do," he says, his voice sounding needy and naked, and she turns around and pulls him against her, kissing him like she's giving him instructions, until she lets him go and leans back against the counter to let it sink in.

"Okay," he tells her, after catching his breath, then he leans in, and kisses her again, matching the intensity at first, but then melting against her, his fingers on her face, his body pressing into hers, as he slips his tongue inside her mouth.

All the tension fades, and she kisses him back, moving his hand from her hip up to her breast, moaning into her mouth when she closes her hand over his, her hand showing him how to touch her body.

"You have a scar," he murmurs to her. "It's really small, but, I remember how you got it. Seeing it made me feel so glad that you're alive. I didn't expect that."

Her eyes meet his blue ones, shining at her, as she slips her hand over his heart, and feels his lips press to her forehead, his arm pulling her close against him.

She understands now.

How they fit.


End file.
